Synchronized
by ally.enchantress
Summary: Elliot's gone for the day, and Fin watches Olivia's version of pining. Lion and lioness. King or queen, a lion needs to be part of a pride.
1. Chapter 1

**It's short, but I kinda like it. I was searching pictures of Olivia and Elliot, and I came across one where I could just see Elliot standing next to her, even though he wasn't. Her position is described in the second paragraph, by the way. Hope you like it!**

**Disclaimer: Until I can think up a convincing argument that says otherwise, everything SVU belongs to Dick Wolf. I own the words on the page. The characters described by the words on the page are not mine.**

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I glanced out the window of my office and my eye snagged on Olivia.

She was standing turned slightly to the side, in stage terms it would be called a one-quarter profile. Her hands were on her hips, one resting comfortably behind her gun, and she was glaring at the chair across from her like she could make her partner appear by sheer force of will. It amused me, however, that, if I snapped a picture of her in exactly that pose, I could insert it into my computer and Photoshop Elliot beside her, making it look perfectly natural without changing a thing about her. She stood like she was standing beside her partner, not like she was ready to kill him for not coming in to work.

It intrigued me how they were so in sync that Olivia could unconsciously situate herself around him even when he wasn't there, and then the phone rang.

Not only did her feet practically clear her desk when she heard it, but Fin, who was watching her with a surprising intensity, toppled right out of his chair and landed on the hard floor with a thump. Munch had to hold onto his own chair to keep from repeating the feat, as he was laughing so hard. A glance to the left made Olivia smile.

Of course, there was a phone to attend to. "Cragen, Special Victims."

Damn it. There was always one to ruin a moment. I entered the squad room in time to see Olivia helping Fin to his feet. She was grinning teasingly at him, like she had just gotten major dirt on him. Fin looked a little embarrassed.

"Benson. Tutola. You've got a murder victim down at the Kohls nearest to here. Get going."

I watched as Olivia glanced quickly at her partner's noticeably empty desk before walking out with Fin. Her steps were measured and steady. They would be perfectly matched to a man just slightly taller, slightly heavier than Fin. Elliot. If I closed my eyes and pretended Elliot was walking out with Olivia instead of Fin, his and her steps would be clicking against the floor in incomparable synchronization.

That was why I loved them as partners. They lived as much in each other's minds as they did in their own. They were perfectly compatible, her passion balancing out his detachment. His caution controlling her unrestrained determination. They were like one person, finishing each other's sentences and gravitating around each other like planets in orbit around each other.

If the squad was a family, they would be the fraternal twins that alternated evenly between biting each other's heads off and joined at the hip. And that was the way everyone liked it. Olivia, Elliot, Fin, Munch, and I had a comfort zone, and this was it. This was how we liked it and, no matter what we might tell IAB, we severely resented change.

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**So? What did you think? I've never written from Cragen's POV before, and I actually like it, because some people really don't seem to notice how much Cragen sees. He sits at his desk and watches everything that goes on, and I think he notices a lot more than we give him credit for. So, that was something he noticed.**

**Hope you liked it!**

**--ally**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey all! I wasn't going to continue this, but after too many months I decided to read it again, and I got an idea for Fin. I don't know if I'll go beyond this chapter, but I probably will, given time. So, that's the reason for the "in progress" status. Yes, I'm still going on "Supremacy" and "Every Second Counts" and "Watching Her" but I'm experiencing writer's block. Major on WH and S, minor on ESC. So, there's my stories' statuses right now.**

**Now I'd like to take up a paragraph to express my gratitude to ShaNini86. If you read my ANs, you have a better chance of knowing that I just quit gymnastics and am going through a tough time right now. What makes ShaNini so special is that she sent me a PM after reading about it, telling me about a similar experience of hers and just all around making me feel a little better. So, thank you so very much for that, ShaNini!**

**Disclaimer: I found Neal Baer on Twitter, which is almost as good as Dick Wolf, but he's stonewalling my attempts to claim SVU. So, while I continue stalking him with fervor (heehee) I shall put up a smokescreen, saying that SVU is still Dick Wolf's.**

**DICK: You're stalking me?**

**ME: Who let you in on my dirty little secret?**

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As usual, I was watching her. Elliot was home sick today, and Olivia was doing her best not to look like a lost puppy without him.

There she was, staring at his desk like it had committed a very serious transgression against her. I wondered what she was actually thinking. It was so hard to tell sometimes. Maybe if I stared hard enough, I could read her mind. Nope, didn't work. Only Elliot could do that.

It was amazing how synchronized those two were. They danced around each other like they were in a Broadway musical instead of a police station, and it was almost hypnotic to watch. He shifted his weight to his other leg and she compensated with a slight adjustment of her own. She coughed and his eyes immediately flitted around the vicinity, searching for danger. If one of them tripped, the other's arm would be out almost before the fall started. It was like they could hear even the slightest change in breath and know exactly what it meant.

I swear they could read each other's minds, too. They could finish each other's sentences and communicate through dilations and contractions of their pupils, as far as I could tell. They knew how to act around each other in interrogation. They knew when one was unhappy. They knew so much about each other that I was surprised he didn't yet know about Sealview. They were just that flawless.

Her muscles were tight as she glared at her invisible partner, furious and missing him at the same time.

She was seriously lost without him there. She got on just fine physically and mentally, but emotionally there were slight changes that I only noticed because I'd been around her for so long. She was just a little more irritable, a little quicker to anger, a little quieter, a little sadder. Her voice was a little softer, her eyes a little darker, breathing a little quicker, posture a little stiffer.

Elliot and she, to be quite frank, were like a lion and lioness with the streets of Manhattan their pride lands.

Female lions are the basis of lion society: they are the hunters, cub rearers, and property owners and defenders. Female lions can survive on their own, but they only thrive as members of a kin group. This was much like Olivia. She held the unit, the squad, the partnerships together. She passionately hunted down perps, took care of the kids they found, practically lived in the precinct, and defended the squad with her life. As her stints in Computer Crimes and wherever she was when Dani Beck came along proved, she could survive on her own, but it was so obvious that she had been unhappy when she was gone. I would be hard-pressed to find someone equal to her; not in actions, not in words, not in spirit.

The male lion is imposing, but his chances of survival alone are slim at best, not helped by its all-too-visible mane that alerts enemies as well as prey. His chances of winning a fight all by himself are dim. Elliot was suited to this description as well. He was intimidating, all his muscles and tattoos, but, as her absences proved, he could not survive without Olivia beside him. One of the reasons: he looked like a cop and he looked mean, scaring off both perps and victims. There was no way he could track down a perp, solve a case by himself, without Olivia to balance him out.

King or queen, a lion needed to be part of a pride.

Elliot or Olivia, they needed to be part of the squad.

I wondered if they knew how they acted around each other, or if the whole thing was unconscious.

An obnoxious ringing cut through the air. I was already leaning back in the wrong position on my chair, so when I jumped I fell. Because I wasn't Elliot, Olivia wasn't there to catch me, and I felt my ass connect with the unyielding floor. Ow! I heard my oh-so-supportive partner laughing his head off while Cragen answered the phone. Olivia glanced toward me, tried and failed to hide a grin, and sauntered sassily over to give me a hand up.

Shit. That smirk on her face. I was never going to live this down.

Cragen's voice kept her from speaking. "Benson. Tutuola. You've got a murder victim down at the Kohls nearest to here. Get going."

'At the Kohls nearest to here'? Seriously? No directions, no street name? He just assumed I knew where Kohls was?

I accompanied Olivia, noticing how her eyes flickered to her partner's still-unoccupied desk. The queen lion was still missing her king lion. Olivia was still missing her Elliot.

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**If you like it, let me know! I love hearing those things! If you hate it, still tell me! I'm not going to change it, but surely you would appreciate a chance to vent your passionate feelings of hate for my innocent story.**

**In short, REVIEW!!!**


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